Things Left Unsaid
by KroganVanguard
Summary: Garrus and Tali talk after the end of ME2 as Shepard prepares to go back to the Alliance. Hints of Garrus/Tali. One-shot set between ME2 and ME3. Reviews would be awesome.


_Prequel of sorts to my other Garrus/Tali one-shot, "The Wait"._

* * *

"So, what will you do?"

Garrus jerked up in surprise at the question. Busy packing his meagre belongings and calibrating the Normandy's guns to be in perfect shape for when the Alliance engineers got their hands on her, he had not expected any visitors. Tali stood at the doorway to the main battery, leaning against the wall, eyes glinting inquisitively behind the faceplate.

"Not sure yet. Tried to talk Shepard out of going home for this stupid sham trial, especially with the Reapers arriving on our doorstep any day now. He wouldn't listen. You know Shepard, always wants to do the right thing." Garrus patted down the last of his civilian clothes as he spoke, wearing his armour on board the ship like the uniform it was. "Got a few ideas. Most of them feel stupid."

She stepped inside the bare walls of the battery. Only thing he had yet to pack from the room was a picture of the old Normandy crew, one they'd taken at Shepard's behest as he'd tried to mould them into a cohesive crew. Tali meandered over to look at it, and Garrus joined her. That felt like a lifetime ago now, when they'd been very different people. Liara stood at the edge, apprehensive, still lacking the social graces to feel comfortable with everyone. Kaidan stood next to her, trying to draw Liara in, considerate as always. Shepard in the centre, green eyes staring straight at the camera, dark brown hair clipped short, his old scar running from strong angular jaw to temple. The focal point, the force that held them all together. Next to him, Garrus looked at his old self. Unscarred, callow, a rebellious C-Sec officer looking for adventure and way out. Had he really been that naive? It seemed impossible. Next to him, as now, stood Tali. She was fiddling on her omni-tool, uncaring as to the camera on her, her body angled in slightly away from Wrex and towards Garrus. The krogan looked bored with it all, wearing his ennui as a cloak. Garrus had been surprised to see him leading the clans on Tuchanka, but then Shepard had always had the knack to inspire everyone around him, even those who thought they had seen and done everything they could. At the other end stood Ashley, her dark brown hair loose for once, her smile somewhat forced. He hadn't known her family history at that stage, only that she had been more than a little cool with him. Unfair to blame her, in hindsight. She had always been a passionate woman, and her fierce rebuke to Shepard on Horizon had stung, Garrus knew.

"A wander back through memory lane?" Tali's voice was soft.

"Yeah. Were we really that young and stupid?" He mused out loud.

"Hmmph, speak for yourself Vakarian." She snorted out in reply. "Convincing Shepard to take me along was the smartest thing I ever did. Can't imagine what I might be like otherwise. Wouldn't have met Wrex, or Liara or Shepard or...you. Wouldn't have spoken with a Reaper. Wouldn't have jumped across a mass relay in a Mako!"

"I was so annoyed he took you and Liara for that one. Jealous, actually. I mean the fight with Sovereign from the Normandy was fun, but going toe-to-toe with Saren...now that would've been something." Garrus allowed a little of that envy to seep into his voice. Saren had felt like a personal affront to all turians, and he'd almost tried to talk Shepard into letting him come along to Ilos. Only Shepard's absolute conviction that Liara's knowledge of the Protheans and biotic mastery as well as Tali's technical genius were what he needed had prevented Garrus from having that little chat.

"Oh, be quiet. You got to fight the Thorian. See the Rachni queen. Take on a rogue VI on Luna. Not a bad list to boast about." She half-turned to face him, and her voice grew serious. "It seems crazy what Shepard has led us through. All of that, and now back from the Omega relay. And prevented a Reaper invasion at the Alpha Relay all by himself. They can't do anything to him, can they?"

Garrus found himself slightly jealous at her concern for Shepard. He knew Tali had always looked up to him, but surely only as a friend? They both knew that Shepard and Liara were all but bonded these days. The last stop Shepard had insisted on making before setting course for Earth had been Hagalaz. It had been a long visit by their standards. He quashed that ugly little sliver of emotion. He and Tali were just friends, just like her and Shepard. She was merely concerned for a friend.

"I think...I hope its all politics in the end. They'll put on a show for the Batarians, then quietly slip him out when things have died down a bit so he can focus on the Reapers. I'll be waiting for the call. Do you know what the others are doing?" he asked.

"Hmm, Miranda and Jacob will slip off early, Shepard told me. She quit Cerberus and will be dodging assassins and hit squads." There was grudging respect in Tali's voice as she spoke about the ship's executive officer. Garrus knew they had never seen eye-to-eye, but he also knew that Miranda had taken a step up in a lot of people's estimations with her actions during the course of the assault on the Collector Base. Resigning by helping Shepard blow up the base had been some way of underlining her new priorities, and had taken a quad to boot.

"Mordin's heading back to STG, Samara back to asari space." Garrus drifted back to packing up his luggage as he spoke, making sure his sniper rifles were buttoned down carefully. "Not sure about the others."

"And you?" There was a curious inflection to Tali's voice. Garrus tried not to think about what it meant. She was one of his oldest and best friends, and he cherished that more than he could ever express. Later he would take that emotion out and examine it, look at it like it was in the scope of his beloved Incisor. Not yet. He wasn't ready yet.

"Palaven. Going to see if I can get someone to listen to me about the Reapers. Not sure where to even start really. Might even go talk to my father." A grim solemnity laced his words, and Garrus knew he faced an uphill battle. He might not be the perfect turian, and he had more than his fair share of disagreements with the Hierarchy, but that faded into the background against the coming threat. His sister, his parents, almost everyone he loved was on Palaven, and he knew his homeworld would be hit badly. There was precious little he could do but talk. Talk sense into people. Persuade them that steps needed to be taken. That the time had come to lay aside old differences. Garrus knew he wasn't Shepard, with those perfect persuasive sentences. He'd asked Liara once, as the only person to have been inside his old friend's mind what Shepard was thinking when he pulled out one of his grand speeches. She'd pursed her lips and given him a look then uttered a single word before walking away. Garrus didn't know what to make of "blue", but he'd give it his best shot.

It would be his toughest fight since Archangel had been under siege on Omega, and one even important to win. One he'd rather not face alone.

"What about you, Tali? Got any plans or…?"

"I'd hoped I'd be left to my own devices, but the Admirals have recalled me back to the Fleet."

"Any idea what's up?"

"I hope it's about the Reapers. I fear it's about the geth," Tali came over to where he stood as she spoke. "I just…I don't know Garrus. It never seems to end." Her voice quavered. Garrus knew she was still struggling sometimes with her father's death. With the Fleet's troubling turn towards aggression (especially in light of the time she spent with Legion). With her desire to return to Rannoch, to see out her father's dream. Everything tied together in a knot that she could probably never unravel. He knew he had some issues with his own father…in fact a good chunk of the crew could claim the same. But he knew he would never struggle like her to reconcile memories and emotions. He just wanted to sweep her up in his talons and drag her off on holiday. Somewhere nice, with fruity dextro-drinks and no imminent galactic extinction. He couldn't do that, but he needed to do something.

Hesistantly he turned to her, draping his arms over shoulder and pulling her into what felt initially like and awkward hug. She gripped him around the waist and leaned into him, her suit warm and vibrating faintly against his plates.

"Things will be OK. Shepard will round us all up again to fight an impossible fight, in next to no time." Garrus injected what he hoped was comfort into his tone.

"Yes. Take care Garrus. Won't be the same without you in that fight." She sighed, then stepped out of the hug and towards the door.

"You too Tali. Give them hell back home. I just…" His voice trailed off, not quite sure what he wanted to say as she walked out the door.

"Garrus...save it for next time. Something to look forward to." There was the merest hint of a grin in her tone, and Garrus allowed his mandibles to quirk as she sashayed those perfect hips down the corridor. Something to look forward to indeed.


End file.
